Judas Portrayals

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, "Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages and given to the poor?" He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.

So Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him. (John 12:1-11)

The chief priests certainly were not holy, or even close to that which priests should be.  They were afraid and acted accordingly, that is, with cowardice and malice. They wanted to kill Lazurus as well because he symbolized what Jesus could do – raise the dead, and a lot more.  

Moreover, “many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.” The chief priests must have felt their power being threatened.  They knew the Roman authorities with whom they collaborated would approve of the killings.  In great contrast to Martha and Mary, Judas the Iscariot would be their willing accomplice, so the Gospel reads. 

Who was Judas?  According to John, he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.  That’s quite a conclusion with no evidence to back it up.  It’s about John’s consequential portrayal of Judas as a devil.

Scholar, writer, and professor Bart Erhman wrote in his 2006 book: “The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed:” (begin) John identifies Judas as a devil, the son of the Devil, opposed to Christ from the beginning, and also a money-grubbing thief.  Does that sound familiar?  It would to anyone familiar with anti-Semitic slurs leveled against Jews in the Middle Ages – that they were demonically inspired usurers and thieves who opposed and murdered their own Christ. Some scholars have argued that it is not an accident that the “Christ-killer” of the early Christian traditions had a name etymologically related to the term Jew: Judas.  In later times, Judas would come to be portrayed as the prototypical Jew.  (end)

Erhman reviewed the ways all Gospel writers portrayed Judas.  His work is quite insightful and helpful in understanding who Judas might have been and reasons for the writers’ portrayals.

We are all like the chief priests when we "kill" Jesus through cowardly and malicious behaviors such as lying, cheating and throwing in our lot with the Devil.

Deacon David Pierce